Hey! Cookie Monster! Try These Cookies!

So things have been a bit crazy as some of you are fully aware of. It seems as though life as officially flipped upside down and my life as a baker is slowly taking shape. I say this not only because I, being the person that loved staying up till 2am now has no problem going to bed at 7am or 8am. Why you may ask? Could it simply be cause I get up at the crack of dawn to go to school? Well, maybe. But it is kinda nice to wake up at a decent time and get everything done throughout the day. Also, this baking thing has started to consume everything I do. I wake up, to go to school and bake. I come home to study about cookies, pies, and the make up of ingredients. Most people can't say that their homework tonight is reading a chapter on cookies!

So speaking of cookies, this week in class.....cookies. And lots of them. These are only a few of the many that I have been baking (not to mention the ones that are yet to bake at school). Now, for your enjoyment, I will actually teach you a bit of what I am learning. The "checkerboard" cookie you see above is called a Brysselkex cookie. I have to admit these aren't my favorite in the taste category but they look awesome. In the first picture above you also see large peanut butter cookies that are partically dipped in chocolate and the sprinkled white cookies with Apricot jelly in the middle are called Linzer cookies (typically seen around the holidays).

Then finally we have one of my new favorites the Strassburger Biscuits. Made by piping out the dough in the forms you see above then hazelnuts and apricot jelly are put in each side. These are a lot like butter cookies. They taste great and are fun to pipe.

So all in all it has been fun so far. In no way would I ever give up this experience for a second. I do miss everyone desperately but please know I am busting my butt one cookie at a time to make you all proud!

So tomorrow, Biscotti and Almond Macaroons then on to tarts.

Cookie Monster, eat your heart out!

Mama Mia....It's a Pizza!

So I can now add yet another talent to my resume, hand tossing pizza. This past Friday in class we were given the task of creating our own pizzas, from dough to pie. Now hand tossing has always been something I never thought possible, imagining the dough stuck to the ceiling or heaven forbid tossed onto the head of a fellow co-worker but I was ready and willing for the challenge. If you have ever seen the Visa commercial with the crazy guy tossing the pizza dough around let me tell you right now, that was not me. But I do have to admit that it went very easily and before I knew it I had a thick crust pie with chicken, peperoni, mushrooms and lots of cheese that was beautiful! As the Chef (what we call our teacher in culinary school) quoted Anthony Bourdain from the Travel Channel "If it doesn't have orange grease on it, it won't taste very good" I looked down at my pizza. Damn I am good, orange grease and all. So as I move past the first week of pastry/baking school I can now say that I can toss pizza's. Now that I think about it....it would be a blast to own a pizza shop but I shouldn't get ahead of myself. This is only week one and all.

Chocolate, Knitting, and Pizza

So day three in my adventure to become a pastry chef. Yet again we covered the in's and out's of proper sanitation (such as don't stick your fingers up your nose then make a sandwich, don't lick the silverware as a way to clean them, and finally leaving mayonnaise out on the counter for a few days while you think about making that tuna fish sandwich is not the brightest idea). Then in between these fun tidbits of priceless information we were let loose to play in chocolate yet again. I would have to say that day two with chocolate was a bit easier than day one but I still have a ways to go (I might have hit a level 1 today in my chocolate abilities!). Luckily we found out that day four, meaning tomorrow, will be including the art of pizza dough which in turn will be put together into pizzas (what else!) on Friday along with the fruit smoothies that we will be making. In two words..... hell yeah! So I now sit to ponder the inter workings of my professional baking textbooks while learning the baker's math that is really quite cool once you get it down. But the one thing I am missing right now is the energy to knit, seeing how I have been waking up at 5 am and my body is screaming at me to lay down and be a vegetable for an extended period of time. So I have decided to take a knitting class at Abundant Yarn here in town tomorrow to force myself to pick up my needles yet again and get crackin!

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**A note to my fellow Stitch n' Bitchers in Redmond... I just wanted to tell you all that I miss you terribly and I hope that you all are doing well. I have seen the comments that some of you have left and I appreciate all of them. Just knowing I have my little cheering group back home (along with my husband and family) keeps me going. I hope to see you all soon at one of the meetings and in the mean time happy knitting!

Look Mom, I Doodled In Class!

No, it's not Max's birthday... but I figured I should get some practice in before that day comes. As day two of pastry school continued we got to final get our hands dirty in the best thing of all, chocolate. Being that none of us have had piping training yet our chef told us to at least do a "happy birthday" then play around with the chocolate to see how it comes out and such. Well, here is the problem. Instead of using a typical piping bag we made them quickly out of parchment paper. My first one's hole was a bit to big and suddenly chocolate was coming out on it's own....on everything! So my second try worked a bit better once I got the making of the cone down but I am not a professional by any standard. So right now I would consider myself a Level 0 (yes that is zero), and it can only go up from there. I just look forward to the doughnuts, breads, and cookies. They should have an exercise class at the school just to work off the pounds from tasting everything. Luckily the large chocolate stains that showed up all over my uniform came out but I can imagine that they are only the first in the many that are yet to come.

The First Day of Baking School

Usually I would try to come up with some medium sized paragraph on the recent event in my life, like attending Culinary School for the first time today but as of this minute there is a problem. I have been up since 5am this morning (no that is not a typo). This coming from a person who didn't know what it was like to wake up in the single digit hours that consisted of a morning and loved what many call "brunch". So all I can say at this moment, in which it is barely evening and I have already been up 14 hours, the first day was great. It's about stinkin' time we get this going cause I can't wait to be knee deep in frosting and chocolate. So in the midst of all of this I was begged by my family and my husband to do the grand reveal and show off my new uniform. This picture is for you guys.

My Scholarship Essay, for your enjoyment

I Have a Dream
By Lindsey Bivens

It was a sunny Saturday morning on a little street in a town of no more than 4,000 people. A little girl wakes up and jumps out of bed in her Strawberry Shortcake pajamas with a grin from ear to ear because today is a very special day. The night before, this little blond three year old and her mom baked wonderful chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies that were bound to wrangle in each and every customer at the garage sale event of the summer in front of their home. Forget the fact that the customers were there to find great deals on slightly used items, she decided that the real reason the customers came were for the cookies. So after pulling on her clothes and her mom putting her hair in pig tales, Lindsey’s Kool-Aide and Cookie Store was officially open for business and with each purchase that day you received a one of a kind maple leaf that was handpicked from the yard out back by the owner herself.
It’s amazing how life can change since the day this photo was taken. Days turn into weeks, then into months and years then suddenly you realize that the dream you once had may no longer be the case. Just being in the kitchen creating treats for family and friends to share fills my memories throughout childhood. Seeing the smiles on people’s faces as they took a bite of a freshly baked apple pie or started their second slice of fluffy chocolate cake, it was always worth every minute that it took to make. Granted there were inventions within the kitchen that didn’t always turn out the way they were supposed to, like the roast that made the whole family sick, but we try not to talk about it. But as each year passed, suddenly becoming a veterinarian or maybe even a scientist took over for the dream of a pastry chef. And so making Lindsey’s Kool-Aide and Cookie store would only be a memory until many years later.
It would be a little over a year ago it suddenly became clear what path my life was taking. On the road of corporate responsibilities and piles of paperwork, I struggled for a bit more creativity in life. Did I still have a dream? And if so was it too late? So many of the people that I had gone to school with were already in the midst of joining the workforce, while doing things they loved. At least I knew what I would do when I retired! I had decided that when retirement finally came I would open a bakery in a little coastal town, just making people happy each and everyday with a cupcake and a smile. It wasn’t until someone asked, “Why wait?” and that’s when the dreams of a small little girl came flooding back ready to become a reality.
So why come to school when so many have simply opened a bakery at the drop of a hat, with no previous training? Only because there is no reason to do something unless you are willing to go all the way to the top. With each moment I have the privilege to be a Western Culinary Institute student, I receive unsurpassed education that will prepare me for anything and give me one step above the rest. Only having previous training in the privacy of a household kitchen, I look for the detailed training to excel me into the workforce so that one day I am standing behind a display case full of colorful treats in a bakery I can call my own.
After receiving the respected associate’s degree and taking the leap into the pastry world I look forward to mastering my skills from baking the finest loaf of bread to sculpting a masterful sugar showpiece while continuing the education process every step of the way. Completing this while creatively carving my niche in the pastry community through the next five years, I will continue on to establish a bakery of my very own using the best skills that have been accumulated throughout the journey. A bakery that while creative in every way draws in the surrounding community to establish a core customer base and community support, never forgetting that the smallest chocolate chip cookie is just as important as the biggest wedding cake.
So now I can truly say that I do have a dream, and I am on the path to making it a reality. And as proud as those around me are for taking these steps, I am finally proud of myself for being able to answer the age old question of “What I want to be when I grow up”. So while Lindsey’s Kool-Aide and Cookie stand may have been a fun idea at the time, that little idea has grown in leaps and bounds and is now the building block towards a future that I can’t wait to start.

Portland Oregon- Day 1

So I have officially moved out of the small town of Redmond, OR to the big city of Portland, OR. While some may be sitting there saying..."what's the big deal?!", just trust me. There is a big difference! Yesterday was day one at my new home, which in two weeks will include going to school at Western Culinary Institute for the next 15 months. Being from a small town, I knew that this culture shock was going to occur whether I liked it or not. Luckily to assist with not getting lost in this large city was my handy GPS navigator, who I have decided to call Marge, leading the way and always getting me home in one piece. So throughout my travels yesterday I found that there were five things that every person should know should they move to the big city.

1. Know how to parallel park: I used to take this for granted since there was only two major streets that you had to do this on but now you better know how to do it if you want to part anywhere close to the place you are going. If you don't know how to parallel park....get used to taking the bus.

2. If it's 4pm, get home!: About 4pm every person seems to start converging on the streets and traffic is incomprehensible. Sitting in traffic, at a complete stop on I-5 makes you wonder how people do this each and every day.

3. Just because the walk sign comes on to cross the street, it doesn't mean people will stop: Crossing the road to get to the first Whole Foods I could find, I assumed that the flashing light that said I could walk gave me the right of way. Well, some people might argue that. People were turning left and right just trying to get somewhere but they weren't very patient to stop for people crossing the street. Keep an eye out at all times or when you are crossing the street... run!

4. There are 20 choices for everything you need: No longer is there one McDonalds, one Starbucks, or even one Fred Meyer. Now there are one on every street corner and each have their own little quirks. It's almost overwhelming!

5. Stores aren't always one story: So my husband and I are at Target picking up a few last minute things for me for my room. We walk around the whole store looking for sheets for my bed and we can't find them. There was no way that a Target wouldn't have sheets! So it was at that time that we look to the middle of the store and notice an escalator. What the?!? So we push the basket over there to the escalator to find that not only is there a second story but there is a handy thing between the up and down escalators that moves your basket for you. It was at that moment I turned to my husband who was fascinated by this newly found invention, and the only thing I could think was "We're not in Redmond anymore!".

The Blacksheep Gathering

You hear the rumors. "Oh, it's huge and the best show all year!", at least that is what I have been told. It wasn't until I arrived this past Saturday in Eugene, Oregon for the Blacksheep Gathering that I began to learn what everyone had been talking about. The incredible number of booths, all with brill ant colors of yarn in very type available. Then for those spinners there is the roving. Now, being a person that has only dabbled in spinning there is quite a bit I don't know (which only increased as the day went on) but what I do know is that the ball of roving in the picture is unimaginable. A booth couldn't help but walk into after seeing this site, was covered in these large balls of roving just waiting for someone to take it home to spin it into beautiful yarn. Of course the thought passed my mind about taking one of these beasts home but I knew there would be no way to avoid the look on my husband's face, the one that says "What the hell is that!". So instead I decided that I would take the first step towards learning how to spin these fibers so that one day I may take on the challenge of this magnitude. I now have some small batts of fiber and a drop spindle to work towards getting out of the spinning challenged category. Granted I have tried to spin with a drop spindle previously, only to end with lots of profanities and no yarn. One day I hope to move up in the world to a spinning wheel but for now it will be myself versus the drop spindle, and this time I will win the war!

Graduation Day

So yesterday, Saturday June 13th, 2009 I officially graduated. Now, it only took 10 years to finally receive my Associate of Arts but at least it came. The ceremony of putting on the ridiculous caps, the gowns that look like they are supposed to be ugly curtains and the long speeches from alot of people that I have never seen before seems a little overrated. But I do have to say it's nice to have graduated officially. If you can tell that is me standing in the middle of that stage shaking hands with another person I didn't know as I receive my so called diploma. The funny thing is that I already received my actual degree in the mail two months earlier, but lets just pretend the ceremony made it official. It was interesting, suddenly receiving a cardboard envelope in the mail that held my diploma. All I did was open it, think "Woo Hoo! It's about time!", put it back in the envelope and went about my day. I do have to admit that I called my mom and dad then I called my husband, just to let them know that I actually finished...finally! So throughout this whole process my life has turned upside down, and as my mom reminded me in an e-card the other day, graduation is coming again in 15 months. And so the countdown to moving day begins, 7 days exactly as of today. But I know throughout everything that's been endured lately that I have learned who my true family members are, the ones that supported me on my way through the first of my two college graduations. So here is a thank you to the ones in the photo, my dad behind the camera, my uncle Keith in Vancouver, and my father-in-law as well (who was knee deep in landscaping across the mountain). You guys are the reason that I am on this road towards a great future, growing my dream of a bakery one cupcake at a time.

My First Sock Dying Adventure

The knit group got together today on this rainy Thursday and decided to learn the art of dying sock blanks. It was hilarious to see every one's different methods to the madness of dying. Some simply squirted kool-aid all over, some created patterns, and I being the nut that I am decided to paint a picture. In my head I pictured it coming out much different. Beautiful red poppies in a garden with a blue sky, definitely not what I ended up with. Actually what I ended up with looked like a painting by a 4 year old. But the experience alone was interesting. I would definitely do it different next time, I might adopt the squirt method and just go crazy. The only problem is that I ordered only one blank from Knit Picks.com thinking I wouldn't do this again. I probably just did that so I would have to place an order again cause I love getting stuff in the mail!